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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663106">The Kindly Ones</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/pseuds/inkvoices'>inkvoices</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gods &amp; Goddesses, Community: be_compromised, Gen, Infinity Stones, Soul Stone (Marvel), not compliant with Infinity War or Endgame</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:55:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663106</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/pseuds/inkvoices</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere in the universe is a mostly flat rock, spinning slowly through space. On it, arranged in a circle, sit six stone daises occupied by the six Aspects of existence, responsible for ensuring the universe continues as it should. </p>
<p>At least when they’re not arguing or being petitioned by mortals.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Background Steve Rogers/James "Bucky" Barnes, Clint Barton &amp; Natasha Romanov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Kindly Ones</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiss_me_cassie/gifts">kiss_me_cassie</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for a prompt from kiss_me_cassie in the be_compromised <a href="https://be-compromised.dreamwidth.org/596506.html">Valentine’s Mini Promptathon 2021</a>.</p>
<p>The colour of the Infinity Stones has changed throughout the comics and the MCU, so I’ve changed them around to make the Soul stone purple for my own purposes. Thoughts on Steve, Thor, and Power are from <a href="https://trekkele.tumblr.com/post/636494788422729728/so-the-reason-steve-rogers-is-worthy-to-lift">this tumblr post</a> by trekkele. And there are a few references to <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314">“Hope” is the thing with feathers</a> by Emily Dickinson.</p>
<p>With thanks to CloudAtlas for beta-reading, giving this fic its title (after the <i>Sandman</i> graphic novel of the same), finding the poem in that graphic novel quoted at the end, and being the reason I’m now rereading <i>Sandman</i>.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Somewhere in the universe is a mostly flat rock, spinning slowly through space. On it, arranged in a circle, sit six stone daises occupied by the six aspects of existence. Or rather, five. Clint leans against the side of his dais instead, lurking in the shadows while he watches the others arguing, which is increasingly common when the Council of Aspects comes together these days.</p>
<p>Loki, lounging on the throne-like chair he created for his own dais, is the current focus of Clint's attention. Time is always worth keeping an eye on, but especially when he’s riling up his brother.</p>
<p>“Isn’t he delightful?” he says, smirking at the mortal on display in the View he’s conjured – a floating window into another world, wisping into green at the edges.</p>
<p>“He was <i>mine</i>.” Sitting on the dais to Loki’s right, Thor, the Aspect of Power, leans forward in his own broad-backed wooden monstrosity, covered in carved depictions of ‘mighty deeds’. “I claimed Steven Rogers and his warrior’s heart. He was mine, brother.”</p>
<p>“And then he became a man out of time." </p>
<p>Loki waves one hand in the air, dismissing Thor's words without looking away from the View where Rogers raises a shield to deflect a number of bullets as he dives for cover behind a vehicle. </p>
<p>“You cannot claim another’s,” Thor protests, his volume rising. But if Loki is able to find Steven Rogers in a View then it <i>does</i> seem he’s been claimed by Time.</p>
<p>“Really? Did Space not fight you for him, when he crashed that plane, to drown her Stone beyond reach of his enemies, believing it would cost his life?”</p>
<p>Loki smirks at Carol, seated on his other side. There’s no chair on her dais. Instead, she perches on the edge of it, kicking her heels idly against the stone and stroking the flerkin draped across her lap. Clint wonders how far she must have travelled since the last Council gathering to find a being that contains a pocket dimension <i>inside its body</i>. Watching it close its eyes as Carol scritches between its ears, he also isn't sure which of them has adopted the other.</p>
<p>“You can leave me out of it,” she says.</p>
<p>At the same time Thor argues, “He petitioned me first long before that! He stood before me and asked for the strength to match his heart, to fight in a great war, and did he not do mighty deeds? Is he not worthy?”</p>
<p>He bangs a first on the arm of his chair.</p>
<p>“He is, and he is mine!”</p>
<p>“Obviously not,” Loki says, voice dangerously soft, “if Time has the greater claim. Tell me, brother, are the ravages of time not Steven Rogers’ great obsession?”</p>
<p>The View widens with a flick of Loki’s fingers, to show another human tumbling head over heels, a black mask falling to the ground in his wake. He rises to his feet, turns to face Rogers, and Clint sees it. The shocked recognition on Rogers’ face. The devastation when he isn’t recognised in turn. The trap Loki has laid.</p>
<p>“Wait.” Wanda straightens where she’s sat cross-legged and floating in the air above her own dais to Carol’s left, surrounded by wisps of red forever reaching out and seeking. “<i>That</i> one is <i>mine</i>.”</p>
<p>“Really,” Loki drawls.</p>
<p>Clint steels himself to glance at the mortal's soul. It may be that Loki is only able to View this one because of his connection to Rogers. Even without looking at their souls Clint can feel that connection between the two men, time and regret taunt between them. He doesn't want to look any closer, wants to close his heart to the ache, but if there's a claiming debate then he has the final say. He needs to see the truth of it, to fulfil that part of his function.</p>
<p>The brief look hurts as much as he'd anticipated, if not more so. Decades of pain and fighting and struggling to get above water, built up like plaque on a tooth, rings on a tree, sediment layers under pressure turning to rock. Amongst that, yes, James Barnes has slipped the bounds of Reality; one of many who have done so unwillingly. He should by rights be Wanda’s...</p>
<p>“But is it his struggle with reality that defines him,” Loki says, “or <i>time</i>?” </p>
<p>A tendril of Wanda’s power reaches towards Loki's View, but ends up tapping against it like fingers on glass begging to be let in, and she frowns.</p>
<p>“Think of it." Loki smiles, reminding Clint of a feline toying with its food. "This friend from Rogers' boyhood. Stripped of his memories, sense of self, reality." He nods at Wanda, the corners of his mouth still curled upwards. "Yes. Made into a weapon, but preserved in ice to keep his edge while everyone he's ever cared for dies, never knowing what time has passed, how long his war has lasted. A ghost."</p>
<p>Clint rubs at the ache in his chest, then folds his arms to cover the action. He can still feel the weight of James Barnes' soul and the ties to Steven Rogers' that Rogers refuses to cut. Drowning souls dragging each other down and Loki's trap a further pressing weight; Rogers, the rare soul who has already petitioned Power and Space, now ensnared by Time. The guy just can’t catch a break.</p>
<p>"Rogers sleeping under the ice," Loki continues, talking over Thor and Wanda’s protests and Carol’s warnings for everyone to calm down. "Only to wake a lifetime later in an unfamiliar future, now faced with the one person still alive from his past who might understand him. Who grew up at his side, fought by his side. Who has also undergone that… serum. Who was believed to be dead and miraculously is not, but who does not remember him after <i>all these years</i> of being undone – ”</p>
<p>“You have got to stop tormenting that man.”</p>
<p>The other four fall silent and turn to look down at Clint. It’s rare he contributes to Council gatherings, preferring to observe from a distance, but for all that the others claim people, everyone ultimately belongs to Clint. Part of his function is to decide when enough is enough. There are too many souls for him to watch over all of them all of the time and he can’t protect them from all of existence, but this one – these two – are right in front of his face and he <i>can</i> at least intervene with the other Aspects. </p>
<p>“Would you fight me for him?” Loki says, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. He sounds excited at the prospect.</p>
<p>Clint tenses and narrows his eyes, considering how much of a threat that might be.</p>
<p>Wanda merely blinks in surprise, but the power running through her and surrounding her bursts out of her control like a solar flare, spreading far enough to warp her dais into an ice sculpture – clock tower – some kind of monument – before she reins it in. Carol’s fists are clenched, blue power leaking out of her skin from wrists to elbows. Thor, of course, is the loudest, pounding on the arm of his chair once more before leaping to his feet, wreathed in orange lightning, with a cry of, “You cannot – !”</p>
<p>“Hey! Where’s the fire?" Tony says, the sixth Aspect, attention finally caught by the noise and bright surges in power. He uses one hand, like wiping a window clean, to clear a space in the flock of calculations and designs surrounding him in his dancing yellow power so he can peer at them all. “What are we angry about?”</p>
<p>“Steven Rogers.” Thor probably doesn’t intend to shout, but it’s his natural volume when he’s wound up about something.</p>
<p>“Oh, the good Captain.” Tony rolls his eyes, then adjusts a formula on his right, already mentally drifting away. “What, did he find yet another Stone so he can come here and petition again?”</p>
<p>“He might well come seeking yours,” Wanda says, teasing him even as she keeps him aware of this Reality. “To ease the troubled mind of his friend.”</p>
<p>“Oh hell no.” Tony screws his face up. His hands are still moving as he conducts his symphony of ideas but at least he’s looking at the rest of them for once through the gap he's created. “No, no, no, I do <i>not</i> need a Rogers rant, thank you very much. I have <i>plans</i> for my Stone and creating a new form of life. Thor, Carol, doesn’t he belong to one of you?”</p>
<p>“Loki claims him for Time,” Thor says, thunderous, “but Soul has spoken for him and Loki has – has – ” </p>
<p>“Challenged,” Loki puts it simply, sounding all too gleeful at the commotion he’s causing. </p>
<p>“You – What?” Tony says, staring at him as the rest of them – except for Clint – start talking again all at once, outrage and explanations overlapping.</p>
<p>As the Soul Aspect, Clint <i>cannot</i> be challenged when it comes to people. It’s not that it’s unprecedented; it can’t be done. Clint doesn't even need to do anything fancy to take away a claim, just remove a soul from the others' View. He wonders what game Loki is playing this time, besides 'piss off everyone I manage the continuation of existence with (again)’ and how convoluted it's going to be.</p>
<p>It's in the middle of this that a haze forms in the open, circular space in the centre of the daises, bringing all speech and movement to an abrupt halt, even Tony’s constant motion. </p>
<p>Petitions are only slightly less unusual than Clint making his presence known at a Council gathering and, for a moment, Clint could swear that this one is purple tinted, which would be… close to impossible, as someone would have had to have found the Soul Stone. His second thought is that it’s Steven Rogers, who’s now found the Mind, Reality, or Time Stone and is here once more to give them a piece of his mind. But the haze slowly resolves into the shape of a human woman; pale and slim, with hair as red as Wanda’s power tied back in a long braid. After an initial stumble she stands tall, planting her feet wide.</p>
<p>Thor and Carol pull their power back under their skin in an attempt to seem less intimidating to their guest, although Thor remains too agitated to sit. The flerkin still on Carol’s lap yawns and stretches lazily. </p>
<p>Loki is immediately distracted, whisking his View out of the way and leaning down for a closer look.</p>
<p>“<i>Oh</i>. It’s one of yours,” he says to Clint, his eyes widening.</p>
<p>“No,” Clint says flatly.</p>
<p>Wanda tilts her head to one side as she draws a thread of purple out from the mortal and towards herself, winding it around her fingers with strands of her own power. “No, she is,” she confirms.</p>
<p>The mortal in their midst looks up, searching the faces of the Aspects surrounding her. She settles on standing with Wanda, Clint, and Tony in front of her – the Aspects on her level and the two currently visibly displaying power. </p>
<p>“I have come to petition Soul,” she declares.</p>
<p>Clint groans quietly and her eyes dart in his direction.</p>
<p>“I, Natalia Alianovna Romanova,” she begins, in what is clearly a well-rehearsed speech, “have searched for all known information on the Soul Stone – ”</p>
<p>Tony leans down towards Clint and says, quietly, “Didn’t you get rid of most of it?”</p>
<p>“ – and journeyed to the forgotten planet at the furthest edge of the known universe – ” </p>
<p>“Should have put it in the unknown,” Clint mutters.</p>
<p>“ – where I defeated the Guardian of the Stone – ” she carries on doggedly.</p>
<p>“Wait, what?” Clint says, raising his voice and frowning at her. </p>
<p>Natalia Alianovna Romanova stops and, to her credit, frowns back at him.</p>
<p>“The Guardian of the Soul Stone,” she repeats. </p>
<p>“Sorry, that’s one of mine.” Carol looks a little sheepish, but then shrugs and grins. “You remember Schmidt? Earth, obsessed with the Stones, finally touched Space so I could do something about him?”</p>
<p>“You couldn’t have found your own forgotten planet to stick him on?” Clint complains.</p>
<p>“Probably,” she says, scratching the flerkin on its stomach and making it purr. “But I was able to anchor him to the Soul Stone so he can’t go anywhere and I charged him to help others in their quest to possess something that he can never have. And," she adds, shrugging one shoulder, "it's practically solitary confinement, considering how well you’ve hidden it.”</p>
<p>“Fine,” Clint says after a moment, since there’s not much he can do about it. </p>
<p>There’s a pause, in which Clint realises that this is the most talking he’s done at a Council gathering in… possibly ever and that everyone else appears to find this whole situation highly amusing. Especially Loki, smirking on his throne.</p>
<p>“<i>Where I defeated the Guardian of the Stone</i>,” Natalia says, taking the opportunity to pick up where she left off and addressing Clint directly now that she’s identified him as her target. “I fought my sister for whose soul would be sacrificed, as a soul for the Soul as instructed by the Guardian, and I have won the privilege to petition you.”</p>
<p>“Wait, <i>what</i>?” Clint demands, standing straight, arms falling to his sides and eyes darting from the mortal to Carol and back again. “What sacrifice? You sacrificed your <i>sister</i>?”</p>
<p>On the opposite side of the circle, Loki leans his elbow on his knee and presses his fist to his lips, although Clint sees the smile hiding behind.</p>
<p>“I suppose,” he muses, “that with the passing of time warping what was known and the destruction of all – or almost all – records of the Soul Stone, your petitioner had little to go on. What a shame, for her sister.”</p>
<p>Clint is familiar with the tricks of Time and he'd <i>known</i> there would be pitfalls in his plan, but not this. This twist he didn't see coming. Carol shoots Clint an apologetic look for her part and the flerkin rubs its head against her stomach, but there's no comfort for this woman's <i>dead sister</i>.</p>
<p>“There is a great cliff,” Natalia says, her eyes narrowed and fixed on Clint, trying to read his face in the shadow of his dais. “The Guardian told us that we must sacrifice the soul of someone we love to it for the Soul Stone; a soul for a soul.”</p>
<p>“And you sacrificed your sister.” </p>
<p>He’s seen a great many things in his time as the Soul Aspect, all the horrors and wonders of people across the universe, and still he struggles to grasp the idea of this young woman standing in front of him killing her own sister, just to talk to him.</p>
<p>“No.” She crosses her arms and raises her chin. “I fought my sister to be the sacrifice. To be the one to jump.”</p>
<p>“Ah, intriguing,” Loki says.</p>
<p>Clint pinches the bridge of his nose.</p>
<p>“Okay.” He takes a deep breath. “Okay, first of all it’s a leap of faith kind of thing and not a suicide mission. If all you did was jump – " he pauses, looking at her until she nods " – then you’re not dead; you’re in a pocket dimension, of which the Soul Stone has many. Well, most of you is. Except for the part of you that’s here. Try not to think about it too hard.”</p>
<p>Natalia gives him a look in return with a single raised eyebrow and Clint finds himself admiring her calm and confidence when entirely out of her depth, despite the fact she's a petitioning pain in his ass.</p>
<p>“Second, I'm going to need <i>you</i>," Clint says, looking over at Carol, "to clear this shit up with your so-called Guardian."  </p>
<p>"Consider it done."</p>
<p>“You’re not what I expected,” Natalia says, the quietest her voice has been but still drawing his focus back to her. It sounds like an accusation. </p>
<p>“And what did you expect?” Loki says, shifting to his original form – taller, colder, and far stranger, with green and gold robes billowing around him as if in a bitter wind.</p>
<p>Natalia catches sight of the flare of power and spins around to finally look in his direction, which was likely the point. </p>
<p>"We appear human to humans," Thor tells her.</p>
<p>"And… everything else to everything else," Wanda says, smiling.</p>
<p>Clint often forgets that himself. As the Soul Aspect, his interest in people's outsides is usually only what it can tell him about who they are on the inside. But he used to be human, once upon a time. Curious to think, but that means he usually sees the other Aspects as this mortal does. </p>
<p>He casts his eyes over the rest of them, paying attention to what his human eyes are showing him: the muscled bulk of Thor with his red cape, Tony with a neat goatee and a t-shirt beneath a smart suit, Wanda appearing even younger than the mortal except for her eyes, and Carol with her bright smile and star blazoned on the chest of her flight suit. Clint himself appears in body armour; a relic from a previous life.</p>
<p>"I'm not interested in your appearances." Natalia turns back to Clint, unfolding her arms and taking a step towards him. "I am here to petition Soul. For the lives of my sisters."</p>
<p>"How many sisters does she have? Is one not enough?" Loki says in an over-loud aside, likely disgruntled at once more being relegated from the centre of attention. </p>
<p>Sparks dance around Thor's hands but Wanda beats him to it, a thread of her power darting across the space between them and over Natalia's head to sting Loki on his ear.</p>
<p>"Was that really necessary?" he says, rolling his eyes, and Thor turns on Wanda with a glare for her attack on his brother, despite the fact that only moments before he was planning to do something similar himself and prior to that the pair of them were united against Loki for claiming their people.</p>
<p>Clint sighs, choosing to ignore them all. He finally moves forward away from the shelter of his dais, stopping only when he's within touching distance of Natalia. She stands her ground and looks him over, assessing, in much the same way he himself usually watches Loki.</p>
<p>He has to look at her soul.</p>
<p>He looks when he needs to, to fulfil his function, like with Barnes. But more and more he’s been avoiding looking at souls, he knows that he has, because the looking almost always hurts and he’s tired of hurting. He especially doesn’t want to look at someone who’s come to petition him. He <i>knows</i> the kind of people who come to him and what they want. He knows the pain. He knows how it will echo tenfold when he has to answer ‘no’. But he owes it to her to look.</p>
<p>Natalia opens her mouth to speak again and Clint stops her, gently pressing two fingers to her lips, holding the words back. He takes a breath, meets her eyes, and he looks. </p>
<p>And he sees.</p>
<p>People contain multitudes and Natalia Alianovna Romanova is no exception; suffering and pain and grief, fear and determination and survival, and more, all entwined. A tangle of knots, twisted, past and present and plans for the future. The deaths of her sisters in the hell hole where she was raised, some of those by her own hand. The dark work she was sent out to do and the darkness driven into her. The hope, perching in her soul, that she can make things right.</p>
<p>It aches, it shreds his insides, it burns behind his eyes.</p>
<p>He knows what she wants.</p>
<p>“That’s not how Soul works,” he tells her, voice hoarse and as gentle as he can make it. “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>"Are you?" Words sharp like knives against his fingertips. She pulls away from his touch, clenching her hands into fists.</p>
<p>Clint can hear yet another argument brewing among the other Aspects and feels it, like a weather front approaching. A change in pressure. There's a conversation to be had, he owes her that as well, but in the middle of warring Aspects is not the place for it.</p>
<p>He holds a hand out to her.</p>
<p>"Look, just. Come with me."</p>
<p>She eyes him warily, but places her hand in his and lets him lead her away from the chaos.</p>
<p>He takes her through the gap between his dais and Wanda’s, to the edge of the rock that their Council of Aspects convenes on. To where the universe spreads out before them, and above them and below. Stars winking in and out of existence. The vast darkness and the bright points of light. Swirling galaxies of colour.</p>
<p>He's seen it countless times before so instead he watches Natalia's face while she takes it in. There’s her surface awe, hard to hide, and when he carefully dips below, not into the flood of before but merely skimming the surface, he finds wonder and fear and insignificance and some measure of peace.</p>
<p>“What do you know of us?” he asks eventually.</p>
<p>Natalia drags her eyes back to him then glances down at their clasped hands as though, despite the firmness of her grip, she'd forgotten they were still touching.</p>
<p>"Will I…" She clears her throat. "Will I float away or something if I let go?"</p>
<p>Clint smiles and releases her in answer. He flexes his fingers, feeling the ghost of her on his skin. </p>
<p>She takes a step back, looking down at her boot scraping against the ground like she's testing its reliability, before returning her gaze to the stars. She gathers herself, putting her shoulders back and clasping her hands behind her before falling still.</p>
<p>“At the dawn of the universe, the Big Bang brought into being six elements, each an essential facet of existence: Soul, Mind, Power, Time, Space, and Reality. They are embodied in six Aspects – ” she glances sideways at him “ – in you, who ensure the universe continues as it should, and in six Infinity Stones that, when found, can be used to contact the gods to petition for favours or be wielded by the finder, for immediate but lesser purposes.”</p>
<p>"Why have Aspects?" Clint says, trying to nudge her in the direction of understanding. "Why not just the Stones?"</p>
<p>"Animate and inanimate, for balance," she replies promptly, "and to take action when needed to ensure continued existence. To be <i>capable</i> of action." Her expression blank, she asks, "Is this a test?"</p>
<p>"No. I’m just trying to... ” Clint shakes his head as he trails off with a rueful smile.</p>
<p>Natalia huffs out a breath. "Then tell me how Soul works."</p>
<p>He takes a moment to think about it, how best to phrase it so that it makes sense to a mortal mind.</p>
<p>“We’re not gods,” he says, which is as good a starting point as any. "You said 'to contact the gods', but we're not. We're aspects, faces, for something that already existed when we came along. I ensure the continued existence of all souls, living and dead, but I don't <i>decide</i> who lives or dies. Or when." </p>
<p>Natalia studies him from the corner of her eye.</p>
<p>“But Aspects – you – can be petitioned for favours.”</p>
<p>“Yes. Basically.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” she says decisively, turning to face him, “then what does a favour from Soul look like?”</p>
<p>“I can… ease a burden, create a spark, give… drive, I guess. Hope.”</p>
<p>She looks unimpressed. “So you’re a muse.”</p>
<p>“Something like that.” Clint grins. “Y’know, I might not be so great at favours compared to the others, but I ensure the continued existence of the thing that makes us <i>us<i>, so.”</i></i></p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“The others,” Natalia says. She frowns, rolling her shoulders and folding her arms so that she holds her elbows with her hands while she thinks. “Could I seek another Stone and petition another Aspect? What if I went back in time and changed things?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“You could.” Clint shrugs and looks away. ”I mean, you’d have to find the Time Stone and run that whole gauntlet, but there’s nothing really stopping you from petitioning as many Aspects as you want. The thing is, we all have limitations though and Time... Time’s tricky. Small changes can have a big impact. And what you want – It won’t fix things. Not like you want. I can’t...” He rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry, it’s hard to explain.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He darts a quick glance at Natalia. She looks far from satisfied and he understands; how many people believe it impossible to petition an Aspect? Let alone Soul with how well he’s hidden his Stone. Yet she’s done it, only to get him and this. </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Are there stories,” Clint says slowly, fixing his eyes on a distant galaxy being born, “about finding all of the Stones and bringing them together?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“To have ultimate power to destroy the universe?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“For fuck’s sake,” Clint mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose to cut off the headache that idea threatens, and he hears her laugh. Only for a second before she swallows it, but it reverberates inside him. He can’t remember the last time he made someone laugh. Wanda, maybe? The last time she sought him out to chat rather than disappearing into one of her alternate universes.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Not to destroy the universe then,” Natalia says lightly.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>When he turns to look at her she’s still wearing a small smile. She makes him want to smile back.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Look,” he says, serious despite how tempting it is to let the conversation go in a different direction, “there’s a reason I made it so difficult to find the Soul Stone. Because I can’t help you. Because I always disappoint the people who come to petition me.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>She frowns and starts to speak, but he cuts her off with a shake of his head even as he puts aside his own pain. He moves closer and catches her gaze. Now that he’s seen her soul it’s hard to meet her eyes, to look at <i>her</i> without seeing the whole of her, but this is important.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“There’s one thing I can offer, but once someone’s taken me up on it, that’s it. And it’s a choice, okay? You have to understand that it’s a choice.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“I’m listening,” she assures him, unfolding her arms.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“If you find all of the Stones and bring them together you have the right to petition all of us at the same time and to... replace us. There has to be a person for each Stone.” He smiles as he adds, “Find Steven Rogers. Captain America.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>If the other Aspects are so keen to fight over the man and he’s so keen to fight back, well, here’s Rogers’ chance.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"You’re joking," she says flatly and Clint bites back a laugh.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"No. That man has a knack for finding Stones, and trouble." He tries to think of people that he's seen in Tony's Views. "Maybe Bruce Banner or Shuri of Wakanda for Mind. Actually, she has a brother that could be good for Power. Figure it out."</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He lets his eyes slide away from hers, landing on the loose strands of hair that have escaped her braid and settled around her face. There’s a relief in looking away from the soul behind her eyes and even more in saying: “Existence is meant to be forever, but we’re not.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He reaches up to tuck the longest lock of hair behind her ear and, lightning-fast, she wraps her fingers around his wrist as he brushes her skin. He could break her grip, but instead chooses to hold still, staying in the moment.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“You’re telling me – Look at me,” Natalia says, and it takes effort but he does. “You’re telling me that the only way I can change anything is to replace you.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Yes.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>She blinks and her hold turns loose, her fingers staying around his wrist as he finishes moving her hair behind her hair. He strokes his thumb across the soft skin of her cheekbone, smiling at the look on her face.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“I’m not – ” she protests. “The things that I’ve done... I have red in my ledger. I wouldn’t know how to – ”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“I don’t judge people by their worst mistakes. And the best people to give power to are those that don’t want it, or so I’ve been told.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He lets his hand fall away and she releases him, studying his face.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"You did this once," she says, and it isn’t a question. It’s a realisation. She glances back at the daises and adds, sceptically, “With them?"</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Clint can’t help but laugh, breaking the tension between them. </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Well, it started with a brainwashing thing for me. Long story. But yeah,” he says, “them.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He looks over at the Council gathering, seeing the ever-present flickering power of Mind and the weaving of Reality. They didn’t all start out friends and he wouldn’t call them all friends now, even or especially after all the time they’ve been together, but they’re connected. They’re all facets of existence, part of a whole. They have been for so long.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“What were you, before?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Human.” He dredges up the memories. “Runaway, archer, circus performer, thief.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Behind her there’s a flash of lightning and burst of green power, and Clint wonders if he has the energy to get involved in whatever disagreement is coming to a head this time. </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“You said there are limitations,” Natalia says, pulling his attention back to her. “I wouldn’t necessarily be able to change anything?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“No.” Clint steps back, giving them both space. He’s said everything that he needs to and now she’s just picking at the bones. Unless she chooses otherwise, she’s mortal and she shouldn’t linger here too long. “It’s a chance and – I meant what I said – it’s a choice. I’ll send you back and you’ll see your sister again and you can choose to just – walk away. Live.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“If I walk away,” she says quietly, “you’ll make this offer to the next person who manages to find the Soul Stone. If anyone does.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Maybe.” Clint shrugs. “If I feel there’s a possibility there.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He starts to gather his power, purple light seeping out through his skin and through his body armour, and it’s like the feeling of caring for someone so damn much that his heart is on the outside of his body. Slowly he reaches out with it towards Natalia Alianovna Romanova, gathering the whole of her up within it – the part of her that’s here and the part that’s in the Soul Stone and the connections from her soul to everyone it’s touched. He pulls all of her together and tenses, like drawing back an arrow on a string, aiming along the line of one of the brightest strands.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Natalia braces herself, feet planted a shoulder-width apart and hands by her sides.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Thank you,” she says, her face bathed in his colour. “For the hope.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>And Clint lets go.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>After she fades in a haze of purple, he sits down at the edge of the rock and dangles his legs over the side. He's always liked heights, but there's something newly unreal about the three dimensional view with his reawakened memories of what it was like to be human. Like, for this view to make sense his brain tells him that below his feet there should be water reflecting the stars, rather than space above and below. An ocean. With a single moon overhead. </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He hears Thor's heavy, deliberate tread long before he reaches Clint's perch. Thor stops just behind him and claps his large hand on Clint's shoulder.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“It is a grand view, my friend,” he says in a low rumble, which is the quietest Clint has known him to be. “Have you tired of it already that you would seek to leave?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Of course Power knows the play Clint is making.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“You’re the one who says being worthy of power means knowing when to put it down.” He tilts his head back to study Thor’s face. “You argue with your brother, itching for a fight, and he’s bored and tormenting mortals. Carol roams further away each time we part ways and forgets her responsibilities here. Tony might be here in person, but he hardly ever brings his mind to the party anymore. And Wanda’s become obsessed with her alternative universes.” </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“That is a manifestation of her Aspect,” Thor says, his brow furrowed, but Clint notices he doesn’t argue with the rest of it.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Yeah?” Clint turns back to the view and stares out. “The one she spends the most time in? She’s married with two kids.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“That is not necessarily – ”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"She eats, sleeps, loves. Is loved. Just… lives.”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“Ah.” It's quiet for a moment. Then Thor sits down next to him, folding his long legs into a tailors seat. “And you?”</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Clint rubs at his aching chest and leans forward, elbows resting on his knees.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>“I’m tired,” he confesses quietly. </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"Indeed," Thor says solemnly, "you carry the weight of all of us."</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Clint’s been feeling it, heavy in his bones, wearing him down. He’s not been performing to the best of his ability. He needs a moment just to breathe, but that’s not something he can have. It just keeps grinding him down to the point where he’s not sure he can even say that he’s at least <i>trying</i> any more. Not even sure he wants to.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>And he’s the one who’s supposed to stand up and say when enough is enough.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Thor leans back on his hands, eyes half closed.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"What do you think will happen to us, after?" he says, voice still low as he speculates. "When our Aspects are replaced by others. Do we die? Do we return to what we were?"</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"You know I don't know that," Clint tells him, closing his own eyes. "When have we ever really known anything? Maybe our souls go into the Soul Stone and we can rest."</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>"Perhaps," Thor says. "Perhaps that is a just rest for you, and perhaps I will finally go to the Halls of my ancestors, to feast and sing of our long service."</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Clint doesn’t ask if his brother would choose the same.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He sits up and stretches his arms up above his head with a deep sigh, then opens a View in front of the stars, framed in purple. On a forgotten planet at the edge of the universe, under a dark sky with the pink edge of a permanently eclipsed sun reflecting on shallow water, two sisters embrace, clinging to each other.</i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>Here, on a rock spinning slowly through the universe, Thor reaches out and gently squeezes Clint's shoulder. </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>And, for a moment, Soul feels a little lighter.</i>
  </i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All around me darkness gathers,<br/>Fading is the sun that shone,<br/>We must speak of other matters,<br/>You can be me when I'm gone.</p>
<p>Flowers gathered in the morning,<br/>Afternoon they blossom on,<br/>Still are withered in the evening,<br/>You can be me when I'm gone.</p>
<p>- Neil Gaiman, from <i>The Kindly Ones</i></p></blockquote></div></div>
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